The Ford EcoBoost engine family is well-known, but the most interesting and smallest of the bunch was the 1.0-liter EcoBoost, which is no longer available in any cars in the US. The EcoBoost won several international engine of the year awards. Although small, it was quite powerful, strong, and efficient, but it didn’t last long in North America.
The engine was designed for smaller cars. It debuted in the Ford Fiesta in 2014, but was short-lived, being discontinued in 2017. There were several reasons for its discontinuation. The EcoBoost was initially launched only with a manual transmission, which reduced its appeal. An automatic was later added, but this didn’t help sales improve.
The Fiesta was also more expensive than its naturally aspirated equivalent, and while it had more power and torque, the fuel economy gains were minimal. Ford claims the reason for discontinuing the Fiesta was customer demand. Ford ultimately decided to discontinue all mainstream cars in the US except the Mustang, which meant even affordable smaller models were discontinued, completely killing the 1.0-liter EcoBoost. Ford stated it wanted to focus on trucks and SUVs, as well as creating electric vehicles for the US market.
What cars did the 1.0-liter EcoBoost go into?
Ford now crammed an EcoBoost engine into almost everything it could. However, the 1.0-liter engine was only intended for smaller cars, and Ford claimed the engine was the size of an A4 sheet of paper. In the US, it only came in the Fiesta Hatchback and Sedan, the Focus Hatchback and Sedan, and the EcoSport before being discontinued.
Internationally, this engine is still used in some models. It’s a popular seller in the European market, and you can get it with 48-volt mild-hybrid technology: the new MHEV models come with a belt-driven starter motor.
It’s available in cars like the Ford Puma, Tourneo Connect, and also the Focus, which is still on sale in Europe. Other cars that used the 1.0-liter EcoBoost were the B-MAX, C-MAX, Grand C-MAX, Transit Courier, and Transit Connect. The 1.0-liter EcoBoost has had its share of common issues over the years, but it’s a very powerful engine. There was also great tuning potential with this engine due to its turbocharged nature and, in part, its cast-iron block.
